Hisses in the Night
by Crystal Manning
Summary: Late one night Scorpius rouses from a nightmare and overhears his fathers arguing. One shot.


The sound of small padding feet in the long hallway was drowned out beneath the hushed, hissing tones that managed to seep out from beneath the large, dark oak door that was nestled in the wall. It towered over the young boy and, like most nights, made him clutch onto his stuffed dragon to the point that, if it were real, it would be long deceased. But the monsters in his dreams that still clawed at his heels were much worse than the monsters that could get him in the hallway, he was sure. So he went in search for his two daddies to fight them for him.

But they were fighting their own monsters that night, if he got the hisses right. They were becoming more frequent.

Brushing his bright white hair off his ear—Daddy and Papa were constantly arguing over the state of his hair length—and pressed his ear to the wooden door. It was cool to the touch.

"I can't believe we're talking about this again."

That was Papa.

"Scorpius is a curious boy, Theo."

That was Daddy. His quiet voice was doing its best to raise in volume but the hoarse cracks every now and then made it nearly impossible. At least he could speak now, if only for a little while. And besides, Scorpius never knew what Draco's voice sounded like before but he liked it now. It was cool.

"Alright then, you get it. He's going to ask a lot of questions as he gets older. God forbid, when we put him in schooling. Instead of jumping around the subject like the pygmy puff that you are let's, I don't know, tell him the fucking truth for once!"

—One of Scorpius's eyebrows jumped up at the foreign word. He made a mental note to ask about it later.—

"Why don't you do it then? See that it's not so easy."

"Fine. I will."

Scorpius shrunk away at the sound of rapid moving footsteps. He pressed his back against the wall, clutching the stuffed Dragon close to his chest. He held his breath and closed his eyes. Maybe Papa wouldn't see him and he wouldn't get into trouble.

Right as he expected the handcrafted dragon-shaped door-handle to depress all movement ceased.

"Wait." Daddy's voice was hushed. More shuffles of footsteps sounded. "Don't wake him up. Not for this."

"I'm tired of this, Draco," Papa replied.

"I know."

"No, you don't. You _don't_ know. You get to walk around with him. Take him places and no one looks at you twice because Scorpius looks exactly like you. You get to have that perfect little family outing with Astoria hanging off your arm like the prized trophy wife she's been raised to be, keeping up appearances. You don't have to be shut in this house, waiting for you all to come back just to get a chance to spend time with him."

"…Theo."

"I know he's not mine. I know he never will be. But I…Scorpius is important to me."

"What about me, then?"

"That's different."

"It's not. This isn't only hard for you, Theo. I have to make sacrifices too. This is the only way I can have his grandparents in his life. Do you think I want this? To pretend to be someone I'm not? _Something_ I'm not? I don't want him cut off from his family. …Not like I was."

"Oh cry me a fucking river, Malfoy, you know this isn't the same! You get him as your son. And me? I'm just someone you're ashamed of, aren't I? You get your perfect life and me on the side. Best of both fucking worlds, eh?"

Scorpius jumped at the loud bang against the wall by his head. He covered his mouth with his small hand, keeping any sound from coming out. Then he turned his hand into a finger and directed a sharp _ssssh!_ at his dragon companion. He didn't want his position to be given away and Dragoon could be chatty sometimes.

Hushed, heavy breathing pierced the air and was finally capped off with an odd sucking sound. Scorpius's nose wrinkled at the sound, having heard it a few times before, all behind closed doors. Finally after what felt like hours (it was really only two minutes but that was forever in kid time) someone finally spoke.

"If you still don't realize that I love you by now that is not my fault," Daddy said. "You understand as well as I do how complicated…being _us_ is for us. Please just…wait a little bit longer. I'll talk to Scorpius the next time he asks. I promise."

Scorpius didn't think Papa was ever going to answer but he finally replied, "…Fine", and everything fell silent once more.

At the slightest sound of feet moving to the door Scorpius rushed back to his room, as fast as his little legs would carry him. He jumped up onto his bed and yanked his covers over his head, evening out his breathing to pretend that he was still asleep when he was checked up on.

Mere seconds later the door opened. Scorpius squeezed his eyes shut and laid as still as possible. He could hear someone approach and then kneel by his bed. His eyelashes fluttered slightly when he felt a finger drag across his cheek but he stayed absolutely still. He didn't want to get in trouble for being awake past his bedtime.

"I lo…Scorpius, I really care about you okay?" Theo whispered.

Breaking his facade, Scorpius rolled over, threw his arms around Theo's neck and hugged him tight while mumbling into his neck, "I love you, Papa."

And he did love Theo. He loved Draco as well. And he loved his Auntie Astoria.

Why couldn't they all love each other?


End file.
